Gough Whitlam

Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 1916-21 October 2014) was Prime Minister of Australia from 5 December 1972 to 11 November 1975, succeeding William McMahon and preceding Malcolm Fraser. He was an Australian Labor Party MP.

Biography
Edward Gough Whitlam was born in Kew, Victoria, Australia in 1916, and he graduated in arts and law from the University of Sydney, served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II, and became a lawyer in 1947, receiving the prestigious appointment of Queen's Counsel in 1962. He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1945, and entered the House of Representatives in 1952. As deputy leader from 1960 and leader from 1967 he was instrumental in healing the divisions which had characterized the party since the Petrov Affair. The first Labor prime minister since 1949, he set out to improve relations with Asian countries, taking up diplomatic links with the People's Republic of China. He also withdrew Australian troops from the Vietnam War. His government abandoned conscription, abolished university fees, and introduced universal healthcare (Medibank). However, he was hampered by an economic crisis caused by the 1973 oil-price shock, while his legislation faced constant hostility from the Liberal-National Coalition majority in the Senate. The National Party of Australia forced him to call a new election in 1974, which he won. When the Senate refused to pass his budget in October 1975, the governor-general, Sir John Kerr, took the unprecedented step of intervening to dismiss Whitlam and appointed Malcolm Fraser as leader of a minority government. New elections were called in December 1975, in which Whitlam's Labor Party was defeated. He resigned after Labor's defeat in the 1977 elections, and served as ambassador to UNESCO from 1983 to 1988. Whitlam's dismissal by Kerr was legal, as it followed the letter of the law, but it violated its spirit. It sparked off gradual disillusionment with the constitutional system founded on royal prerogative, and led to growing clals for the abolition of the monarchy.